Pumpkins In The Park 5K RR

Yep, another one. Rochester, NY is a racing town. There are multiple races to pick from each weekend, and sometimes it is hard to pick. I love ones put on by the local running outfits: Yellow Jacket Racing and Fleet Feet Rochester. They just do such a good job. It really feels like "community" to me too which I love. So anyway, if racing every weekend is a way to keep me motivated and inspired, I will do it! Some I will "race" and some I will just run for fun.

This week's goal? Don't bonk.

See last week's race report for the bonking.HA! I am not on a particular training plan right now, just trying to get regular runs in and keep my weeks at double digits. A re-balancing act, if you will, due to changes in life and seasons. So this past week I ran 2 on Monday, slow and steady with an average pace of 12:55/mile. (coming off the illness thing). Tuesday I ran 2.5 after work in cold icy winds but a 12:34/mile pace, I wasn't really dressed right for it so I was cold the whole way but got it done. Wednesday and Thursday I got caught up in work issues, one of my new balancing act challenges. Thursday-Friday, I was in Florida (surprise, surprise for work), and did a 2 mile TM run Friday morning with an 11:36/mile pace.

So Friday afternoon I flew home and made it to the LRS before they closed for packet pick-up. Cool bibs and shirts for this one:

As we have already established, I love being able to do costumes so I had planned on a Wonder Woman theme. After a nice spaghetti dinner that DH had waiting for me when I got home, I went in and found all my stuff, tried it on, and really wasn't feeling it. Wonder Woman wasn't working for me. I needed something more edgy. Never thought I'd turn to the dark side (yes, I am a huge Star Wars fan):

This time I knew I had to work a warmer outfit in too, luckily I have a black running jacket. Having been in Florida for two days in 80 degrees and sunny, and a weather forecast for Saturday for 40's and windy I knew I could be in trouble.

Saturday morning, race day, I was up around 6:30. Race time was 9 AM but I like to get there early so left my house a little before 8 AM. This race was at a local park, one my son and I used to go to quite a bit when he was a little kid. Sure enough it was cold and windy! Thankfully there is a Lodge that we were able to hang out in before the race. It was so fun seeing everyone pile in, in all the fun costumes.

An entire Star Wars family came in at one point. Kind of like that phone commercial. Mom was Queen Amadala, Dad was Anakin Skywalker, kids were little Luke and Leia, Aunt & Uncle were Han and Chewie. So I said to little Luke, the classic line "Luke, I am your father" his dad looks at me and laughs and says "Wow, you are me in the future!" HAHA!

Soon some of my running peeps started showing up. Can I interject here how I just love all friends I've made in the running community? Some of them are friends I already had who have got into running too and some of them are new that I've met because of running and ALL of them are OSOM! Here is a shot with a few of them and a few I have yet to meet:

The local LRS made a huge announcement, right before the start, they will be moving to a brand new HUGE facility right across the street from this particular park. And then we were off! This was a big crowd so we were very slow to start by default.

Mile one, I knew I had to find my breath and pace quickly. I had tried not to think of the course much because I knew... more hills! I do not train on big hills, I have a few small ones in the neighborhood where I run but not like this. (I think this next costume says it all)

So this first 3/4 of a mile were somewhat flat, maybe a slight incline. We ran by my son's first elementary school (K to 3rd grade). I felt cold and all my joints were a bit creaky. the mental game kicked in right away, you know that voice that says, "aww it's okay to not do this, these hills are going to be too hard" and stuff like that? Well, I started combating it with thoughts about how am I supposed to save face if I bonk two weekends in a row? I had no illness excuse this time! So I pushed through and started up the first real hill. I didn't need to go for a PR today, but I did need to run this. I think that first hill was about 50 ft in elevation. Mile one was 12:50.

We had a slight reprieve before the next incline and there was a traffic radar sign that measured the cars speed. I thought it was funny, it was picking up all us runners flashing 5 or 6 MPH so then a lot of the kids would get in front of it and run as fast as they could for the few feet it measured them. One got it up to 14 MPH! That was pretty amusing.

Soon we were at the base of the REALLY big hill that took us up to the Reservoir at the top. I took the turn up the road and took a few steps and realized what I was doing and ran again. No way was I letting this get me! There was a water stop part way up, I did walk the water stop just so I could get a few real gulps of water and then I ran again. By "Batgirl's" calcs (my Garmin) I think this hill was 135-140 ft in elevation. Once we got up close to the top we were running directly into the wind. Mile two came in at 13:59 (ugh).

But finally we reached the top and I knew it was downhill the rest of the way! I had one group of friends who do these runs frequently and walk/run them. Sometimes they beat me, but not today. I must have past them 4 or 5 times on their walk breaks. They are awesome and cheered me on each time. In mile three I decided that had to be the last time and I took off. Mile three came in at 11:40! Woot!

Wind & Sweat do a number on hair! (After the finish)

My official time was 39:52. I am good with that for this particular run. And of course it was a ton of fun again. I'll have to plan for the upcoming races on my schedule as I know they are on flatter courses. It may be time to get my butt in gear and go for a 5K PR!

My plan for today is to go get an easy mile in just to get my double digits for the week.

You seem like such a joyful runner ... which is why I love reading your posts!

Aww thanks, that makes me smile! I think it was you that said last week, if it isn't fun why do it? So true. Not that it isn't work sometimes but the joy is what keeps me going even when I don't feel like it.

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